VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – Wednesday’s announcement to approve the risky Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion is a disappointing, but unsurprising betrayal for generations of British Columbians. The BC government’s 37 conditions do nothing to mitigate the risks of the project.

Like Prime Minister Trudeau and the federal government, BC relied heavily on the flawed National Energy Board’s conclusions in making its decision, despite BC’s own position that the NEB’s process was inadequate to evaluate spill risk. BC declined to withdraw from the Equivalency Agreement and conduct its own public environmental assessment process when it had the chance.

BC’s 37 conditions, like the NEB’s conditions, are planning and reporting conditions that do virtually nothing to mitigate the risks associated with the project. For example, BC’s Condition #26 requires Kinder Morgan to provide clean drinking water to communities whose water is poisoned by a Kinder Morgan spill.

Today’s announcement is another reminder that our environmental laws need significant improvement to protect the interest of present and future residents of British Columbia. It ignores the First Nations that have barred the project in their own laws. Like Enbridge Northern Gateway, we expect that First Nations and community opposition will not allow this project to proceed.